Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep;
4 sermons cite this verse
So when he says, I came to you in weakness, he got himself beaten up that many times. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I've been constantly on the move. I've been in danger from rivers, dangers from bandits, danger from my own countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the country, danger at sea, danger from the false brothers. He said, This is not—you don't think I've been having a picnic or something, do you? He says, I've labored, I've toiled, I've gone without sleep, I've known hunger and thirst, I've often gone without food, I've been cold and naked, and beside everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. He says, You're weak? I feel weak. You're led into sin? I burn. If I must boast, though, he says, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. Now notice verse 31. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. And that little phrase gives the key to his whole business. That's his whole philosophy of existence. That's his whole life. He says, the one thing that is true is that the God and Father of the Lord Jesus is to be praised forever. And he may be praised in my beating, he may be praised in my imprisonment, he may be praised in my enslavement, he may be praised in my prosperity, and so on. He says, …
PERHAPS someone here thoughtlessly says, "Well, whoever calls affliction, 'light,' must have been a person who knew very little about what affliction really is! If he had suffered as I have done, he would not have written about 'our light affliction.' He must have been in robust health and known nothing of sickness and pain." "Just so," says another, "and if he had been as poor as I am and had to work as hard as I do to maintain a sickly wife, and a large family, he would not have written about 'our light affliction.' I expect the gentleman who used that expression lived very much at his ease and had all that his heart could wish." "Yes," says another, "and if he had stood by an open grave and had to lament the loss of loved ones, as I have done. And if he had known what it was to be desolate and forsaken, as I have known it, he would not have written about 'our light affliction.'" Now, if you talk like that, you are, all of you, mistaken, for the man who wrote these words was probably afflicted more than any of us have ever been! The list of his afflictions that he gives us is perfectly appalling—"in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness." Is there anyone here who could truthfully make out such a catalog of personal afflictions as the Apostle Paul endured? …
I've labored and toiled. I've often gone without sleep. I've known hunger and thirst. and have often gone without food and I have been cold and naked. When they whipped him, he bled. When they stoned him, he groaned. When he was exposed to the elements, he froze. you say how did he do it why did he do it look at the church today we hear it and it's a nice statistic that more people were martyred for the faith in the last century than all the other centuries combined it's also true that there are more muslims who have converted to christ who've gone back into islam than have remained christians Put your finger on any part of the map and it will bleed Christian blood. our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world have been imprisoned and they have cried out to God for deliverance and no angel has come open the gates of the prison they have prayed no earthquake came to deliver them they suffered they bled they have died or even more impressive they've suffered they have bled they have been released they've gone back into the ministry again Love endures. …
Fourthly. The apostle Paul did willingly forego those things that were in themselves lawful, for the furtherance of the interests of religion and the good of men. Thus marriage was a thing lawful for the apostle Paul as well as for other men, as he himself asserts; but he did not use the liberty he had in this matter, because he thought he might be under greater advantages to spread the gospel in a single than a married state. So it was lawful for the apostle to take the other course of life, as in eating and drinking, and freely using all kinds of wholesome food. And it was in itself a lawful thing for the apostle to demand a maintenance of those to whom he preached. But he forbore those things, because he supposed that in his circumstances, and in the circumstances of the church of Christ in that day, he could more advance the interests of religion and the good of men without them. For the gospel’s sake, and for the good of men, he was willing to forego all the outward advantages he could derive from them. 1 Cor. viii. 13. “Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.” He would not only avoid those things that were useless in themselves, but those also that gave any occasion to sin, or which led or exposed either himself or others to sin. Then it follows in the next chapter., “Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you; for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord. Mine answer to them that do examine me is this, Have we not power to eat and to drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?” The apostle did not only forbear some little things, but he put himself to great difficulties by forbearing those things that were in themselves lawful. It cost him a great deal of labour of body to maintain himself. But yet he willingly laboured, working with his own hands; and as he says, though he was free from all men, yet he made himself the servant of all, that he might gain the more. Let this induce such persons to consider themselves, whether they act altogether as become Christians, who look upon it as a sufficient excuse for all the liberties they take, that the things in which they allow themselves, are in themselves lawful, that they are nowhere forbidden, though they cannot deny but that considered in their circumstances, they are of ill tendency, and expose them to temptation, and really tend to wound the credit and interest of religion, and to be a stumbling-block to others, or as the apostle expresses it, tend to cause others to offend. But they uphold themselves with this, that the things which they practise are not absolutely unlawful in themselves, and therefore they will not hearken to any counsels to avoid them. They think with themselves that it is unreasonable they should be tied up so strictly; that they may not take one and another liberty, and must be so stiff and precise above others. But why did not the apostle talk after their manner? Why did not he say within himself, It is unreasonable that I should deny myself lawful meat and drink merely to comply with the consciences of a few weak persons, that are unreasonable in their scruples? Why should I deny myself the comforts of marriage; why should I deny myself that maintenance which Christ himself has ordained for ministers, only to avoid the objection of unreasonable men? But the apostle was of another spirit. What he aimed at was by any means to promote the interest of religion, and the good of the church. And he had rather forego all the common comforts and enjoyments of life, than that religion should suffer. …